


Forgotten DigiMemories

by digitalgate02



Category: Digimon Adventure tri.
Genre: Gen, digimon adventure tri. our future spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-07-30 21:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20103898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitalgate02/pseuds/digitalgate02
Summary: What if the Chosen Children weren't able to prevent the second reboot Homeostasis had planned to execute in the human world?Could everyone get those memories back in that case...?tri. Our Future spoilers though





	1. The second reboot

_ “Dream… Big.” _

_ “Teach Nishijima!!” _

… 

…

When he woke up… He was at the beach with those capsules lying on his side. They all opened at the same time and Taichi immediately ran to check it out the young kids.

He heard some coughs, they finally had woke up…!

“Ta-Taichi?”

Daisuke saw a blurred person in front of him, and he knew it was his beloved senior.

“A-are you fine? Did you get hurt? What happened!?” Taichi was nervous and non-stop talking. Daisuke only watched him, as the others tried to move but they couldn’t barely move their legs.

“... Please, h-help.”

Taichi noticed their issues. Realized some bruises and cuts in their clothes and skins. He quickly called an ambulance and then the four had sent straight to the hospital.

The 5th pod had Gennai, which was strange for Taichi but… He couldn’t let the poor old ally of them hurt. However, Gennai is NOT human so why to worry…?

While he was too busy trying to get help for the victims of Dark Gennai, Taichi hadn’t noticed the lack of the digimon rampages, Alphamon or Raguelmon. But when he did…

… _ It was too late. _

Another reboot had been executed. One erasing everyone’s memories about the digimon and sending them all back to the Digital World. He searched for his friends, but no chance. They probably went home… Or it is what Taichi believed to.

He arrived at the Yagami’s Residence and opened the door. Hikari was still 14 years old, but Tailmon and Agumon weren’t around. With no idea how to react, he decided to leave it for later. Hikari realized his brother was hurt, but it’s okay it’s normal to Hikari be concerned with him.

_ However… _

“Did you get hurt at the soccer practice?”

It made Taichi raise an eyebrow.

“No, we were fighting Alphamon!” he said “That same digimon who had almost destroyed Odaiba by searching for Meicoomon.”

“Alphamon?” Hikari blinked “Meicoomon? Digimon?”

“Yeah, those. What? Did something happen while I was in the depths of the Digital World, trapped inside an underground lab?”

“What are you talking about…?”

_ Panic. _ He couldn’t believe something had changed for those hours he had spent away from the battle.

“You don’t know?”

“No, did you hit your head again?”

“... I see. Maybe it was a fever dream” he chuckled, but nervously, and continued to take care of his bruises. Despite Nishijima trying to protect him from their fall, he still had some cuts “... Do you know Daisuke?” he asked her “The boy from your class? Our neighbor from the other building?”

“Yes, I do. I heard he’s at the hospital.”

“Yeah, he is. Miyako too, if you want to know.”

“Miyako… Who?”

Wait, Hikari does NOT know Miyako?!

“... Do you know Iori? Ichijouji? Takeru?”

“Who are those, Taichi?”

More panic inside, how could Hikari NOT know those kids?! They were always with her and Daisuke! But more importantly, she seemed to not know who Takeru is!

“Is there a Takaishi Takeru at your school, right?”

She nodded.

“And you don’t know him?”

“He’s just a classmate but I don’t talk with him. Is he hospitalized too?”

“No, he’s fine” he replied.

“Where did you get that hurt, Taichi?!” She now was scared about seeing her brother with a bunch of band-aid “It can’t be soccer…!”

“I told you, but… Nevermind. I fell from the bike” he had to came up with something while he had no idea how to explain Hikari about digimon and such “I was with Daisuke and his friends, we all got hurt. Them a bit more than me, but they’re fine now.”

“I will pretend I believe it.”

“Whatever you say” Taichi shrugged.

He went to his room, took the digivice and glanced at it. Was he inside a dream? Or is it something similar to Belial Vamdemon’s illusions the young kids had fought before? 

But it is there… the Digivice in his hands. His memories, his adventures alongside Agumon and the other eleven kids kept real and clear to him.

It couldn’t be an illusion.  
Agumon definitely existed and exists!

He dialed everyone’s numbers in his phone. Skipping the younger kids, Taichi had to know if weren’t Hikari suffering a memory loss or pranking him. 

“Digimon? I don’t know what it is” Sora answered.

“Is it a new game?” Koushiro too.

“Who are you, why did you get my phone?!” Joe was panicked.

“You’re from school…? What is Digimon anyway?” Mimi didn’t know him either.

“I don’t know,” Yamato, however, knew him but not about digimon.

“Uh… Who are you?” And as he expected, Takeru didn’t recognize him at all.

Meiko’s number got some error or something else, and he believed she might not be in Odaiba anymore. But he had to know… He had to!!

In his pocket he had Nishijima’s business card, so he took that number and dialed it. Someone answered the call and it wasn’t his teach or Himekawa. It was someone else…!

As Taichi asked some questions, the person talking to him had no clue about those. They thought it was a prank call and hung up.

He was desperate… He had to know SOMEONE who could explain him what the heck is happening there. None of his friends know about digimon! He was the only one with those memories--

Oh no.

“Did… Did some reboot happen here too?” His eyes were widened staring at the ground. He looked at his own room and mysteriously the photo of the eight together…

“... It is still here!”

_ How odd…! _

The younger kids were out of question, he won’t bug them when they’re recovering from whatever had attacked them in the first place. He now knew, thanks to Nishijima, that the four had discovered something about Himekawa and Yggdrasil so they had tried to stop it before things had gone wrong.

So he was the only one in the world (?) to kept those memories. How? Why? He didn’t know.  
Perhaps his strong bonds with Agumon prevented him from losing those memories, or being stuck in the Digital World had spared him from the reboot effects.

But… wouldn’t it mean the Digital World had suffered a second reboot too? What if he manages to go there and Agumon do not remember of him again? How can he handle it alone? How can he undo those and bring everyone’s memories back?!

“... I don’t know what to do.”

He felt so lonely right now, it was almost hitting the rock bottom.


	2. Not alone at all

A whole time had passed, despite all the complaints Taichi had and the sudden depression hitting him hard but being masked with a smile and goofiness. Hikari noticed something odd with him, but… Kept it to herself.

She was too focused on school activities sadly.

As much Taichi wanted to vent about his frustration, he had no one to. He could’ve gone to Nishijima’s room at the school but that funny yet stoic teacher assistant wasn’t around anymore.

** _Nishijima’s death was real._ ** And he wished it had been retconned just as everyone’s memories. So then, this means no one totally cares about that late man?  
A quick investigation by himself led to some odd results: Nishijima had been there, in the High School and every single student Taichi carefully asked about the man had known Nishijima Daigo.

So… Why no one is finding odd that old man not coming to school anymore?  
Why?

His suspicions kept bugging him, and he was so sure the whole group had memories erased. He didn’t check on the young kids yet, but that could include them.

“Taichi?”

Koushiro sat on the bench, next to him.

“Is everything OK?”

Now Taichi looked at his best friend from years ago. He remembered Koushiro being somehow the most damaged when they had had to say goodbye to their partners when the first reboot had happened. And how Koushiro had insisted on opening the gate to meet Tentomon and the others.

But now… It seemed none of those had happened.

“I’m fine” Taichi smiled, bit forced and to hide the fact he was still devastated by the second reboot “Just thinking about… Uh… You know, Daisuke? The kid from the Soccer Club when we all were at the middle school?”

“Ah, yes. I do.”

“I didn’t hear about him lately” he had to come up with some normal story to avoid worrying his friends “I’m kinda concerned about his state. He got terribly hurt the last time I saw him.”

“Oh, Daisuke…” Koushiro mused “I do heard something about… Four kids getting critically injured at the beach last year, but no idea what happened to them.”

“Yeah… I think I will visit him later.”

“But you barely know him…”

Oh, so then… All of the kids’ relationships has been rebooted as well. Like if they never had met before. But most of those encounters had been caused by the digimon, so if those memories about the digimon had been erased… _ Then makes sense to none of them know each other. _

Taichi felt butterflies in his stomach.

“But he’s so lonely, don’t you remember?” and Taichi had to at least play dumb “That unlucky kid probably has no friends to visit and wish him to get well soon! Wouldn’t you go visit some old club member and cheer them up?”

“I don’t talk to anyone but you and Sora.”

“Not even with Mimi? She’s at your class!”

“M-Mimi? You mean, Tachikawa?”

“Oh I… Yeah!” Taichi’s heart skipped a heartbeat at his own mistake.

“I do not know her enough to go through first name basis…! Are you OK, Taichi?”

“N-No, I mean I am. I thought… I thought you knew her.”

“We’re just classmates.”

_ Without the digimon, Koushiro definitely has the same old issues he had before our first adventure. _ At least it was what Taichi thought of.

“N-Never mind then” and again, Taichi had to dodge suspicion “I will catch you later, bye.”

“If you need me I will be at my office.”

He left, but…

_ Wait, if Koushiro has that same apartment… Couldn’t he… _

He glanced at the pocket on his shirt. The digivice being there all of the time, as a lucky charm or just to keep _ connected _ to Agumon. 

He didn’t want to forget, he didn’t want to give up on those bonds.

…

Taichi knocked on the Motomiya apt. door and waited. The door opened revealing a confused Motomiya Daisuke who had finally came home from school.

“Daisuke? Hey, it’s me… From the soccer club. I think you don’t know me that well so it might be strange--”

“Taichi…!!”

Taichi blinked, why would Daisuke call him like that and not by his family name?!

“You… You know me?” and he asked the young boy “D-do really know who I am?!”

Daisuke frowned, what had happened?

“Yes I do. You’re Yagami Taichi, three years older than me. We used to be part of the same soccer club since Elementary. You stopped playing soccer at middle school, then passed the goggles to me when we went to help Agumon against the first baddie guy I had to fight.”

“Ah yeah, you do rememb-- Wait, you meant ‘Agumon’ or am I hearing things?”

“I did. He’s your digimon partner, did you forget?”

“Do you know what digimon is?”

“Monsters from the Digital World? Our friends? Is it a tricky question because I’m totally terrible with those!”

He wanted to cry. For some reason Daisuke also had those memories too! He wasn’t alone at all!

“I’m relieved finally someone who remembers about Agumon and the other digimons!!” 

“Wait what? What are you talking about!?”

“Ah, I forgot you had been at the hospital since I rescued you.”

“Taichi, if you keep me confused I swear I will be mad and I--”

“Hold on, I will give you some detail. The summarized version is… No one but us remember of the digimon or anything we had witnessed since summer 1999.”

“Huh?!”

“And not only that, the whole group are like strangers to each other right now, except a few pre-established relationships before the first adventure we had in the Digital World.”

“Wait so… You’re sayin’ NONE of the others… Does it include Ken, Miyako and Iori too?”

“I didn’t talk to them yet. I came to see you because at least you could remember of me”

“I see… You’re afraid of talking with the others and them not knowing you…”

“Like Miyako says, bingo.”

“... I might not be a smartass like Koushiro, but if I do remember of those… And you too…”

“... Ichijouji, Miyako and Iori probably remember…!” Taichi completed it with a sparkle of hope blooming in his heart “We all were together, so we were spared from the reboot effects!”

“But please do not mention reboot around Ken he might snap.”

“... Why?”

“A long time ago we said, when he came with this brilliant idea of ‘deleting the game from his computer when he goes home’ and restart everything over, that he couldn’t reboot the DigiWorld.”

“Oh, turns out yes you can.”

“He will be angrier than Yamato when I used a marker to draw on Yamato’s sleepy face.”

“... Was that you?! Yamato accused me for that!”

“Sorry.”

“Can you check it out with the other three?”

“Why don’t you come with me then?” he smiled “I was about to do a little meeting. Miyako and Iori wanted to talk about something with Ken and me.”

“Where are you guys going to gather at?”

“At a cafe. Don’t ask me, Miyako’s idea.”

“Ah…”

Miyako was waiting for the other boys, alongside Iori who had just ordered some soda to drink in the meantime.

“Ugh, how can he take too much time…! It’s urgent!”

“Considering you’re not talking about Ichijouji… Daisuke wouldn’t take that much time to meet us here. Maybe something happened...”

“If it is him unable to find the seaside deck I--”

Ken, Daisuke and Taichi arrived at the same time and it caused some confusion.  
First, Miyako hadn’t expected for Taichi’s presence in the meeting.  
Two, Taichi had completely sure the other three kids kept memories untouched.

“Why is Taichi here?” Iori blinked “A-ah, I meant no offense, Taichi…”

“I’m not offended I’m rather relieved you know me.”

“Did something happen?” Ken raised an eyebrow “For this meeting include Taichi means…”

“Takeru didn’t know who we are” Miyako began “I met him on my way home and greeted him, but he acted like if I wasn’t a friend. He asked who I was…!”

“Miyako told me that and we went to his apartment” Iori continued “But when he opened the door he said to not know us or what digimon is.”

“Ah… Same happened to me” Taichi nodded “None of our group know about digimon, and some of our bonds got some kind of re--” Daisuke covered Taichi’s mouth.

“Returned to the past status of strangers!!” and he completed “But us not! Strange, isn’t it?!”

Ken, Miyako and Iori didn’t understand that, but decided to leave it alone and start thinking about what could’ve been the reason for their memories not being erased.

“Is it some kind of spell upon us?” Miyako mused “A digimon is blocking everyone’s memories but ours?”

“It can be” the four boys agreed.

“But… Can we do something?” Iori questioned “We have no digimon to fight.”

“Or a clue where said digimon is…” Ken added “It will be hard to solve this issue.”

“Don’t worry!” Daisuke grinned “We’re five, and even if we can’t get help from the others, we can solve it. At least THIS time Taichi’s with us.”

“Right…!”

“I gonna order something, Ken come with me and grab a snack too.”

The four kids got up from the table to order and left Taichi there, who was thinking and trying to cook a plan. HOWEVER…

_ “Meichan? Where are you, Meichan?” _

“M-Mochizuki?”

_ … He saw someone he hadn’t been expecting to see there. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Meichan" is like a nickname, hence why I kept the '-chan' on it.
> 
> I'm trying to ditch honorifics, if I find unable to keep omitting them like this I miiiiiight come back to using them.


	3. Something odd in the picture

“Mochizuki?!”

Taichi was petrified by not only the fact Mochizuki Meiko was still in Odaiba but also was searching for ‘Meichan’ or more known as _ Meicoomon. _ If Meiko is there and calling for her digimon partner this means she also had her memories kept.

But how.  
But why.

He got up from the table and went after her. At least to check out if his assumption was right. But at the same time he was afraid of being not recognized and her running away or calling for help by thinking he’s a stalker or thief.

So… he returned to the cafe table, sat on the chair and waited the young kids come back with food.

_ “So… what do you get?” _ he heard Daisuke’s voice _ “Oh right, I like that one…! It’s delicious!” _

Taichi had been losing the notion of his surroundings by thinking if Meiko’s presence in town and a ‘Meichan’ meant there’s still hope to recover everyone’s memories. Still, they couldn’t undo Nishijima’s death. And he had no idea what had happened to Himekawa Maki as well.

To think about it, they hadn’t had no time to think where Himekawa had been. 

“… Taichi?”

He blinked and glanced at Daisuke, who had came back.

“We forgot to ask what you wanted to order.”

“Eh… Um… I’m not hungry don’t worry” he answered which a chuckle at the end.

“If you want, I can share my cheesecake with you.”

“Nah, enjoy it. I had… I had to go to somewhere now that I remember of.”

“Huh… Okay then. We will keep discussing about that and call you later.”

“Thanks, see ya.”

He felt a bit of jealousy of the quartet having memories and bonds untouched but he stopped to think on a second thought -- Maybe he should’ve been thankful these four kept their memories and bonds, or he would’ve been the only one to know about digimon.

Would he accept if, for a second, these four had been affected as well? Like, going to talk with Daisuke and be treated like a distant old soccer club mate instead of some close friend and fellow Chosen Child?

_ No, he wouldn’t. _  
It was because of the digimon that made Daisuke approach from him and the others.

“Mochizuki is still around,” Taichi began his musing “Koushiro still has that office he got from a friend, Takeru still lives in the same building as Miyako and Iori, the portrait of our first adventure with our digimon partners is still in the same place in my room…”

_ That was odd. _

“If the reboot happened, wouldn’t have those not exist or have happened?” he raised an eyebrow “Also, Daisuke’s goggles would have been with me-- Oh, the goggles! The ones Koushiro made for the purpose of detecting digital distortions…!”

But then he remembered:

“... I lost those when I fell with teach Nishijima.”

A sigh, now he can’t totally show those to Koushiro and see if he could remember of making them in the first place…

“I wonder if someone got them, but… Depending on who is, I’m afraid they might not recognize me…” he lied on the park’s bench, staring at the blue sky “If no one is friends with each other, this means I can’t ask them about said goggles. And Daisuke and his three friends might be complete strangers to them as well.”

He had to think… Had to find the solution.

“Things are harder to handle when you’re alone… What would Koushiro do now? What would Yamato do? Or Joe? Or Sora? Or Mimi?”

“I can’t ask Hikari’s help since she’s affected by the reboot too…! Dang! Are the young kids and me the only ones to know about the digimon?!”

“... W-wait a second!” he quickly sat on the bench “There were six pods on the beach: One for me, four for the young kids… The sixth had… G-Gennai!”

Oh no, he’s not planning to search for that old man will he?!

“But if Gennai was inside those, and got sent to the human world with us…”

_ ... So, where is he right now?! _

He spent a few minutes wondering where to find a Digital World being in his world but his eyes caught someone familiar with goggles lying on their chest. Blond hair, blue eyes…

“... Yamato?”

Yamato seemed to be looking for something. But Taichi was sure if he tries to talk with Yamato, the other boy will definitely not treat him as one of the best friends and yes as an old school student. However, it was kinda strange seeing Yamato with goggles, but not just regular ones…

“... Th-those…!!”

Yes, are the said goggles Koushiro had made for him.

“So… What are we going to do?” Daisuke shrugged “If no one but us and Taichi had been spared from this spell… We need a plan to make everything go back to normal.”

“I thought you were the one to pull some miracles from your top hat,” Ken glanced at him.

“I do not wear hats, that’s Takeru.”

“That’s not to be literal, Daisuke….” Miyako explained “It was some sarcasm, and I think we can avoid unnecessary commentaries.”

“... Can we open the gate?” Iori interrupted them “If we get our partners back, we can at least fight.”

“Not impossible, but… Not sure if our D-3 can open it.”

“... Should we point our digivices to something weird and…??”

“No, Daisuke…”

“The last time it worked!!”

“... We could try it…”

“YES!”

“But still…” Ken took his digivice “It does not mean we can cancel the spell…”

“C’mon guys!!”

“... We would need the help of the others, right?” Miyako frowned “And they can’t help us if they don’t remember of us or about the digimon…”

“Are we sure we can’t snap them all out of this?” suddenly, Daisuke’s voice tone changed to a serious one “Like, we had escaped from Vamdemon’s illusion attack once. We can help them… To escape from those as well.”

“But how…?” they asked together.

“Don’t worry I’ve got it” he winked and showed a thumbs up to them “Grab everything you have about the digimon business, and tell Taichi to gather everyone under the Akemi bridge.”

He left them there.

“But Daisuke-- What do you mean?!”

“He’s gone…” Iori blinked “D-does it mean he got a plan?”

“So, if we get everything we could make them remember of something… We can definitely find the solution and bring everything back to normal!”

Daisuke was determined to make everyone recover their memories, unlike Taichi who had been avoiding force things to happen. The difference is that Taichi has no confidence he’s able to sparkle a little memory inside the others’ minds. While Daisuke is blunt and straightforward, he has so much self-confidence and zero reasons to not believe in.

What makes Taichi and Daisuke, two Chosen Children of the same crest, behave and think differently from each other? One is about pure Courage, the other is about Encouraging the others.

While Taichi was born to lead, Daisuke was born to aid the others.  
Hence the difference.

“Hikari had made an album full of photos of everyone, from past Odaiba Memorial gatherings” he continued to talk with himself as he grabbed a bunch of stuff and put it inside his sports bag “If we can at least make them believe they all know each other, if we could at least make them help us to solve this mystery…”

“We can...”

_ … solve this together. _

“How can I approach from him?” Taichi had decided to follow Yamato, considering that he had tried the same strategy with Meiko previously and had decided to give up “How can I tell him those goggles with him are made by Koushiro for me?”

Welp, he had no idea how to proceed.

“What if I just play dumb again, tell him I used to wear goggles like those ones and then try to have a chit chat with him? No, no. It won’t work… If Yamato and I had had our bonds untouched too it would’ve been easier to handle it. But now he probably thinks I’m just a regular school student.”

He felt defeated again.

“Seriously… Why a second reboot had to happen and THIS time with OUR world?!”

_ “Meichan??” _

“M-Mochizuki…??” He stopped watching Yamato to look around and see Meiko again, looking for ‘Meichan’ at the park. It was giving him the sense Meiko probably was like him and the four young ones.

She stopped right after seeing Taichi now.  
Meiko and Taichi glanced at each other for a few seconds, and his suspicions were probably right? Did she know him? Did she--

“M-Mochizuki!!”

He ran towards her, but she panicked and disappeared in the crowd.  
For sure, Taichi was believing she did recognized him and got shy enough to talk with.

If weren’t, why would her stare him and suddenly flee?


	4. Awkward ways to handle your friends' amnesia

Taichi stopped as he lost Meiko in the crowd, still not sure why would she avoid him if she was looking for Meicoomon. She couldn’t count with anyone else but him now, because not even Mimi may know her. And Himekawa had disappeared as well, after all that mess caused by that mysterious Data Bureau agent.

Meiko is alone right now and refusing to seek for his help.

“... It can’t be helped.”

He gave up on trying to find her and tried to see if he could keep following Yamato instead. After taking a few minutes to find Yamato, he began to move again. Not sure if it is an okay-ish thing to do, though he had a valid reason to be tracking his friend.

And wouldn’t Yamato suddenly find it strange?  
Yes, but who cares?

He gathered all the courage he had left inside his heart and approached from Yamato. Playing safe, he forced to not act that casual with someone who now sees him as a stranger.

“Uh hey, Ishida Yamato right?”

Yamato stopped and looked at him.

“You were from Odaiba Elementary School too? I’m Yagami Taichi. We went to the same school as kids.”

Yamato wasn’t that fond of Taichi’s friendly talk. Seemed annoying as heck. He was going to somewhere and now he has to stand this goofy man in front of him, with Goku-esque hairstyle.

“Ah, I think I do remember of you.”

Taichi internally panicked at Yamato’s unpleasant voice tone. Seemed angry. Nope. Nope.  
Abort mission, abort--

“I used to wear goggles too!” _ Heck why Taichi WHY _ “And how funny is… A friend of mine had made some new goggles for me and it looked like those. Do you know Izumi Koushiro too?”

Yamato gave him a deadly glare.

“N-No, I’m not accusing you from stealing those! W-we barely know each other right?? It couldn’t you go at my house and snatch them from my room!!”

“What are you talking about?!”

_ Taichi, you idiot! _ \-- It was Taichi’s inner voice telling him.  
Mysteriously, said inner voice mimicked Sora’s voice so it sounded like Sora saying her usual catchphrase for every single time he had done something dumb or reckless.

“I… Uh… So-sorry!” he bowed his head quickly “I had no intention to make it sound like an accusation, Ishida.”

Thanks to that quick move, the poor digivice fell from his shirt pocket. Taichi gasped but Yamato silently grabbed it from the ground. He examined the object for a few seconds and then handed it back to Taichi.

He had no excuse to come with about the digivice, and strangely…

“You have those too.”

_ Huh?! _

“I… I do.”

Yamato took his digivice from his pocket, and showed it to Taichi.

“I have one since I was a kid, but I can’t remember what it is exactly…”

“O-oh… I… I have one since Elementary” and Taichi played dumb once again “I got it at the summer camp.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“About those goggles… Where did you get them?”

“I have no clue either.”

“... Care to come with me and meet a friend?” he asked “I really meant an old student from our school, Izumi Koushiro. He might know where you got those.”

_ No, Taichi that sounds creepy and suspicious he might-- _

“I think I remember of that kid… OK, I want to know where I got these.”

Taichi was speechless again, blinked and mouth a bit opened.

“R-right…” he nodded “So, it’s this way…!!”

“I think I got everything we did as a big group” Daisuke kept irradiating optimism and excitement through the streets “Photos and such! That one ramen bowl keychain charm Sora had given as birthday present… That one book about Math for dummies Joe got for me as well… Takeru’s fanfiction about Naruto…! Mimi’s cute stickers… Yamato’s band shirt… Koushiro’s gaming CD… Hikari’s...”

“Daisuke?”

“... Lovely cutey handwriting and beautiful photo montage of all of us six together~”

“Huh? But I...”

“Yes Hi-- WAIT HIKARI?!”

He panicked as he saw Hikari confused in front of him, acting a bit uncomfortable about what he was doing.

“Lovely… Cutey… Handwriting… and Beautiful… Photo montage?” she tilted her head a bit.

“A-ah!” Daisuke blushed like no other time he had had “You d-don’t remember of my 12th birthday party? I mean...!!”

“I don’t?”

He almost fell on the floor. Dramatically, yes.

“... Uh… You’re with amnesia th-then!”

“Am I?”

“Not kidding, you and me are friends! Childhood friends! We used to gather with other kids and then spend our time together at the school’s computer room!”

“Did we?”

“Y-you used to fight me when I used to be a meanie to Takeru!!”

“... Who?”

_ She doesn’t remember of anything!! _ \-- he was devastated. But a very evil little Daisuke popped On his shoulder:

_ “She does not know Takeru! Now it’s your chance!!” _  
“But…”

Then, another little Daisuke appeared, this one with a benevolent aura, on the other shoulder:

_ “No! You can’t fool the poor girl because of your innocent child crush on her.” _  
“I won’t it’s… It’s that…”

“... Daisuke?”

He blinked his eyes and the imp and angelic mini Daisukes vanished. Hikari was still there, not sure what was he talking about or rather why she’s unable to remember of anything he had mentioned right now.

“Hikari.”

He gave her a determined gaze and took from the sports bag a photo album, handing it to her.

“What is this…?” She seemed unable to understand Daisuke’s behavior.

“Take it, please.”

She carefully took the album from his hands and opened it.

“And this is Izumi Koushiro’s professional office apartment.”

Having to (re-)introduce that place to Yamato seemed weird, but could he complain about it?! Anyway, Koushiro and Yamato had to be friends again.

“I didn’t expect for it” Yamato was completely astonished.

“I know I know, he’s a little genius.”

“T-Taichi…” Koushiro dragged Taichi away from Yamato and whispered “What is it Ishida doing here?!”

“Oh… He has something you have to take a look at it…!” Taichi replied.

“Like…??”

“Hey, Yamato!” Taichi called the other boy “Show Koushiro here about that toy and the goggles, he’s very good at tech stuff!”

“B-But…” Koushiro felt a bit panicked in front of some stranger.

“Hm, ok…” Yamato nodded, took the goggles off his neck and the digivice from his pocket.

Koushiro glanced at those and something sounded familiar to him. No, wait…

“You have one of those too!” Koushiro exclaimed about the digivice.

“So you have it and never told me?!” Taichi faked a surprise, to keep things normal as possible “No way! I have it too don’t you know?!” and he took his digivice from his shirt pocket.

“But… How??”

Three digivices in hands and strange goggles. Something made no sense there.

“I believe I saw those goggles before but I can’t tell…”

“Oh really?” Taichi inside wanted to spill the beans, but nope can’t do it at all.

“Hmm… I need to investigate it a little more” he put his digivice on his pocket again and took the goggles from Yamato’s hand, starting to examine it more “Oh?”

“What is it?” Yamato showed some curiosity on that reaction.

“It is strange…” Koushiro replied “I do see a watermark, the same one I put on my devices and softwares… But I don’t remember of giving anything to you before. Where did you get these?”

“I… don’t know.”

“Is it time for me to reveal something?”

Yamato and Koushiro looked at Taichi, having no clue what that meant.

“You two are with some amnesia and yeah those goggles were made for me to detect digital abnormalities in our world.”

“Wait… what?”


	5. I want to remember

That sudden revelation happening to Hikari, Yamato and Koushiro (in different places though) caused them more and more doubts. Firstly, how couldn’t them remember of anything Daisuke and Taichi had been saying?

“Who are those people? Why are we together? What are those plushies?”

Daisuke kept a serious expression in his face. No, he won’t give up on bringing Hikari back. Not even if he has to fight the world to make her remember of everyone and the digimon, especially of Tailmon.

“You’re a Chosen Child” he said, then he took his D-3 from his pocket “Have you seen something like this before?”

She gasped and accidentally dropped the album on the floor. Thankfully, none of the photos had been lost! The blue digivice gave her a flash and she immediately showed hers. How could he have something similar to hers? The difference it was the grips’ color -- Pink to his Blue.

“H-how do you have one?”

“Because we’re friends and part of the same group” he knelt to get the the album from the floor, “You’re our friend. Inoue Miyako’s jogress partner and the Chosen Child of the Light.”

“Why… why are you telling me those? I don’t remember of anything…!”

“Because I wouldn’t forgive me if you get separated from Tailmon all again!” he confessed “Not... Not again.”

“Tail...mon?”

He put the digivice on his pocket and opened the album, showed her the white cat-like monster in one of those photos. One where Tailmon had been on Hikari’s lap.

“Her. Your digimon partner.”

“My… Digimon partner?”

“So I will be straight” Taichi said pointing at the digivice in his hand “There are other two girls and a boy with this exact same ‘toy’ which is not a toy at all. It is called ‘digivice’ and it is what allow us to go to the Digital World.”

“Digital World?” the duo exclaimed.

“We’re a group of twelve people. My sister and Yamato’s little brother are part of a small group formed with other four kids. All of them have a different digivice model, the D-3.”

“W-why would you say my brother is it involved with it?!”

“Because of Hikarigaoka incident in 1995. The youngest kids, but Hikari and Takeru, were chosen because of the events from summer 1999 and Diablomon’s first attack on the net in March 2000.”

“Diablomon?” Koushiro frowned.

“A-anyway, you have to help us. If you want your memories back… You have to cooperate with me and the young kids. We’re the only ones to be spared from this amnesia wave.”

“But… What can we do?” Koushiro was unsure about that “I do want to get my memories back, it’s just… I have no idea what we can do.”

“You know who are those others?” Yamato vaguely asked it.

“Takenouchi Sora, Tachikawa Mimi, and Kido Joe” Taichi answered “My problem by talking with them is that… They might not remember of me at all except for Sora.”

“... I will talk with Takeru about it.”

“W-will you?!”

_ A beep came from Taichi’s phone. _ He put the digivice back to his shirt pocket and took his phone, opened it and it was a message from Miyako.

_ \-- Taichi we got a plan, BINGO!! Try to gather everyone at the usual spot! Under the Akemi bridge. _

“B-But how can I do that?! I just managed to get Yamato and Koushiro!!”

“What’s wrong?”

“H-huh… A friend, your friend too told me to gather everyone that they got a plan.”

“... You have everyone’s phone?”

“I do, but the last time I called them…”

“... I will call Sora and Takeru” Yamato said quietly “You find a way to call the others.”

“If Joe don’t freaking yell at for not knowing me again…”

“I… I can do it” Koushiro said “Please let me try.”

“So… I will have to talk with Mimi…?”

“Can you do it?” the boys asked him.

“I can, it’s just… I I will ask Miyako’s help for that. She and Mimi were best buddies so I guess... ”

“You never had talked with a girl before, if you exclude Sora and Hikari” Koushiro stated a fact, while trying to contact Joe by the phone number Taichi had passed right now to him “You’re quite blunt and clumsy when talking with other girls.”

“Then I’m totally fine with Mimi and Miyako because they’re the first ones I had spent time before and didn’t mind my language” he crossed his arms.

_ But you couldn’t talk with Mochizuki so that’s true. _ He heard his inner self in his mind.

“Good luck then.”

_ \-- Hey, Miyako. Can you help with Mimi? She might not be the same chill one for now and I’m sure she wouldn’t take me seriously. _

Miyako met Taichi and then discovered where Mimi had been. She had gone to walk at the shopping mall to enjoy the day, buying some clothes and plushies for her room. The duo started to stalk her once had seen her leaving a store.

However, it was strange when she had stopped in front of a flower store to admire some cactus. Was she remembering of Togemon by any chance?  
Miyako dragged Taichi in, approaching from Mimi with a grin in their faces. Nothing too much exaggerated to not make things awkward to their friend.

“Hey…!” Miyako waved “miss Tachikawa”

Mimi looked at them, not sure how to react.

“My friend here was from your Elementary school! I too, but I’m a year younger than you~ And I wasn’t living in Odaiba before the year of 2000.”

“Oh? Does he know me?”

“Yeah I do, she does too” Taichi replied “We’re in a hurry so we will be straight: Do you have something like this?” and he showed his digivice.

Mimi’s eyes widened. She opened her purse and took an identical device from there. Confused about how Taichi had one, Miyako just…

“You have to believe us, you were part of the same group as Taichi and I. Though my digivice is a little different.”

“Digivice?” She frowned.

“The name of those!” Miyako explained “It’s a portmanteau for ‘digital device’ and it’s something you use to evolve Palmon!”

“Palmon…?”

“Mimi,” Taichi spoke “trust us we know you and we need your help to bring everyone’s memories back!”

“Please…” Miyako begged her “You want to remember, I know you want it.”

“... I do.”

“You want to get those memories back, right?”

Hikari glanced at him and then at a photo of six kids and her brother together. The people on the photo were happy and smiling. Said ‘digimons’ also were enjoying the scene, eating cake alongside the human children.

For an unknown reason she felt them all familiar. And judging by Daisuke’s words, those are her best friends.

“Why don’t I remember of them...?”

“It’s because you had your memories rebooted to forget about them” Daisuke explained “I know it is reversible because… You still have a digivice.”

“Why didn’t you get affected too? I don’t understand…!”

“... Because I wasn’t here when it happened” he said with a serious voice tone “I was captured by the real enemy and sealed inside a capsule, I had been missing for months by what Taichi told me.”

“You… You disappeared!?”

“... It’s a long story” he avoided look her in the eyes now “But I’m alive now so that’s what matters. We need to bring you and the others’ memories back so we all can solve this.”

“What is it to be solved?” She babbled “Y-you’re here then it’s all done isn’t it?”

“... No, it’s not,” he muttered “I have a bad feeling it is not.”

“Huh?”

“The reason I disappeared in the first place was because some evil Gennai was after a digimon and we tried to prevent him… He was also after you…! So I couldn’t risk your life.”

“D-Daisuke, what are you talking a-about?!”

“... We have to gather everyone asap and prevent him from doing it! D-do you believe me? That all I told you is the truth right?”

“I trust you. You’re my friend” she gave him a determined gaze “Whatever it is happening, we can deal with it. And I will not let you disappear again.”

“Hikari…”

“You need to gather the others… The ones from the photo album? I can help, even if I do not remember of anything or about them, I want to help you!”

“Thanks, then let’s go! We’re gathering at a particular spot in Odaiba.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sudden DaiHika feels.
> 
> Also I have thousand theories for what happened to the 02 quartet but not sure if I should publish them.


	6. That's a promise

“Okay so we’re the only ones left trying to wait for the others…”

Ken seemed a bit impatient, Iori kept in silence waiting for the rest of the group to come. But they had been there for hours and no success…!! Would Daisuke’s plan work? He wasn’t sure anymore, though refused to accept defeat.

“Iori, did you get any message?”

“Huh? N-no.”

“Wouldn’t we go after them as well? I mean, we could at least try to talk with Takeru… It’s easier to deal with him than anyone else.”

“I think we’re left out of it because we, sadly, hadn’t known anyone before August 1999. We’re all connected with them because of post events.”

Ken had no objections anymore. He glanced at Iori for a few minutes till look away.

“You’re right… Unlike Daisuke and Taichi, our whole relationships were formed by events from August 1999 ahead. I… I can’t say I’m proud of my part of those incidents.”

“Being the Digimon Kaiser was terrible to you, but you’re our friend now…!”

“Still… I wish we could just pretend it never happened--”

“You have to accept the past to move forward!” he stared Ken, while the other avoided looking at him “You can’t ignore what’s part of your growth.”

“I-Iori…”

“I used to hate you, but when Daisuke fought us all saying you had a change of heart, I wanted to take my own conclusions. I saw you had changed, and I learned about morality thanks to you and mr. Oikawa.”

“... I appreciate it, thanks” a warm smile appeared in Ken’s face “I wouldn’t have been who I am now if weren’t for you too. So, while I hate my past… A part of me is thankful for having found you five, and the other six too.”

“Even in the dark moments of our lives there’s still something good to learn with.”

“I’m not proud of what I had done as the Kaiser, but I’m glad that I was able to find you all and grow as person.”

_ “Heeey, we’re back!” _

They looked to the direction of that voice, meeting Daisuke with Hikari. Behind them, Ken noticed the rest of the group coming in batches. How did they manage to gather everyone so fast…? Is it a Miracle? _ Is it all Daisuke’s fault anyway? _

“They’re all here!” Iori exclaimed “B-But how…?”

“I think despite the amnesia everyone has a trace or something connecting us” Miyako explained “They all have their digivices! It’s like…”

“... Something temporary, huh?” Ken mused “Then, the story hadn’t been modified, but rather their memories were… Blocked.”

“We’re missing one more person” Taichi looked around “I’m sure she’s like us, and we need to find her.”

“Who?” Everyone but the four young kids questioned.

“... Mochizuki, right?” Daisuke vaguely answered.

“Yes-- H-how do you--”

“Long story, leave it for later!” he took his D-3 from his pocket “So there’s some 13th digivice signal nearby. It must be her.”

“I tried to make contact” Taichi spoke “but she ran away when she saw me.”

“That’s the proof she had been spared too” Ken commented “You two, go after her. We will try to open the gate here.”

“... ‘You two’ ? You mean me and who?”

“He meant me” Daisuke nodded “Let’s go, Taichi.”

Taichi shrugged but followed Daisuke. Despite everything, he questioned how Daisuke know about Meiko, or why Daisuke did not tell him about anything. To Taichi, it was quite unusual of Daisuke not telling him important things related to the digimon.

Daisuke always tells him about stuff, right? Daisuke always let him know when things cannot be handled by the young kids and need an extra hand, right?

But… Daisuke had tried to keep Taichi away from troubles before. The famous ‘_ There’s no time for that’ _ excuse. The famous _ ‘Taichi is busy, we can handle it by ourselves’ _ argument.

There was something odd in the atmosphere. Daisuke is super talkative around Taichi, enough to be quite obnoxious and noisy. But this time he remained silent, leading them to Meiko’s whereabouts.

“Dai… Daisuke” Taichi wanted to break the ice between them “So uh… You know Mochizuki already?”

No response.

“She saw me and ran away, maybe she’s afraid of us or feeling it’s her fault for what happened?”

_ This is not working at all… _

It was like Daisuke had became distant from him. From best buddies to strangers, and Daisuke hadn’t been affected by the second reboot wave at all!

_ Why is he acting strangely right now…? _ Taichi had those thoughts and a few theories in mind. He had to learn what made Daisuke change drastically.

“Daisuke. Did something happen? Is it related to what you discovered before us?”

Daisuke stopped and glancing at him, a gasp was heard.

“It’s not…” he babbled “It’s not about you-- It’s me! It all my fault, I told her I’d protect Meicoomon and I… I failed at!!”

_ So he knew Meiko and Meicoomon since the beginning... _ Taichi felt a bit upset with that reveal, but nothing like anger. Just… disappointment. 

“It wasn’t your fault” Taichi spoke.

“I didn’t tell you because… Y-you had been busy with a normal life! And we had no time to ask for your help either… I let all of this happen and now everyone but us got their memories rebooted.”

“I… I understand that, but why didn’t you tell Hikari and Takeru then? Why weren’t they with you!?”

“Because--”

_ “AAAAAAAAH!!” _

They were interrupted by Meiko’s scream, causing them a quick anxiety attack. They ran in the direction of the scream only to meet her facing… _ Ichijouji Ken?! _

“Y-YOU!!” Daisuke yelled with all of his disgust “YOU TRIED TO KILL MY FRIENDS AND ME!”

“Oh? Then you’ve survived” by the voice, Taichi noticed it wasn’t Ken at all, but that dark Gennai he had met in the underground lab “Too bad you weren’t able to save everyone in that room, am I right?” he smirked and let a laugh escape.

“I gonna make you pay for that!!”

“Daisuke, no!” Taichi grabbed the boy by his arm, “I won’t let you get hurt again… I won’t lose you too!”

“I… I can’t let him hurt her!” Daisuke yelled “We already lost mr. Nishijima, I won’t--”

“If you weren’t reckless none of that would’ve happened!!”

Daisuke got petrified with that argument. Inside, he knew it had been a chain of mistakes and wrong decisions he had taken. On the other side, Taichi had been feeling guilty for Nishijima’s death and for not being able to protect Daisuke plus the other three young kids.

“Splendid!” Dark Gennai had been pleased by that scene “Without her, you won’t be able to do anything. Humans will perish, and the Digimons will prevail…!”

“I do not count with it…” Daisuke smugged “Especially when…”

_ “V-mon Head!!” _ _  
_ _ “Mach Jab!!” _

The duo of digimon attacked simultaneously Dark Gennai, while Daisuke and Taichi grabbed Meiko and fled, with their partners going after the trio next.

“Tsc… Those brats…” Dark Gennai snapped his fingers.

“Where are we going?! Meiko questioned them.

“Anywhere away from that man!!”

They hid themselves in a playground, after running for their lives. They sat on the ground and tried to catch their breath again. Daisuke and Taichi watched the digimon, who seemed pretty normal to them.

“You were rebooted… And yet helped us?”

“They too?” Daisuke blinked.

“Uh, not sure but we felt we had to help… Something was telling us to come after you two!” Agumon explained “But we don’t know you three…”

“Th-this means… V-mon…” Daisuke gasped “Forgot about me…?”

It was like Hikari… But this time the blue digimon had no idea about him at all and it hurt him!!

“It is reversible, it is reversible…” the young boy repeated it like a mantra, however it was driving Taichi and Meiko crazy.

“Is he okay?” she asked.

“He… He wasn’t expecting to have his best digi-bud amnesiac…” Taichi responded.

“... It is my fault, all of it…” Daisuke got away from the group, sitting in the bottom of that shelter.

“It’s not…” Meiko vaguely said “It had been all of my fault. I shouldn’t have born, I--”

“I think none of us are the one to blame” Taichi interrupted them “It’s Yggdrasil’s fault. That’s it.”

“... Him and that shady lady who put us in danger!”

Taichi knew that, because of Nishijima. But he still did not know what happened to Daisuke and the others yet. Would they… Talk about it right now?

“... You met mrs. Himekawa?” Taichi played dumb and safe. He wouldn’t force Daisuke to spill the beans if the boy isn’t okay by talking about it.

“Kinda of.”

“And you knew Mochizuki too?”

“Kinda of.”

“That’s all you can say!?”

“Yeah, that’s all I can!” he clenched his fists, giving a gaze at the goggles on his neck “I couldn’t tell you! I had no time to tell you! It all happened that fast I had no time to think twice!”

“You… You are still hurt…”

“I do not deserve these” then he threw the goggles back to Taichi, who caught them with a hand “I failed on my mission. I broke our promise.”

“Um, are you okay?” V-mon approached from Daisuke, feeling concerned with that human he barely know BUT felt something familiar on “What promise you broke…?”

Daisuke shut in and did not answered anyone else’s questions. It was tough to act as a hero when he had failed at being one!! Taichi probably…

“No, you didn’t” Taichi walked to the bottom and stood behind Daisuke, “You had tried as always. You never had given up even when I decided to. Sometimes, you’re stronger than me but you don’t realize it.”

“You deserve to wear these” and he put the goggles on Daisuke’s head like a crown “You’re the leader of the next generation of Chosen Children, and they follow your lead. It’s okay to commit mistakes, do you think I never had commited one before?! It was my fault that Sora got captured by Nanomon!”

That sudden flashback in his mind was there in front of his eyes, but instead of feeling bad about it -- like he had been as a child -- he smiled.

“I learned the real meaning of ‘Courage’ there. Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s having guts to face it.”

That sudden realization made Daisuke look at Taichi.

“You had lost a battle, but not your life. So, I guess this is a victory.”

“B-But… mr. Nishijima--”

“He decided to sacrifice himself to save us all,” Taichi hated to accept it though “And I guess he wouldn’t have been saved in those conditions.”

“... I want to… Honor his sacrifice” Daisuke got up from the dirt and gave Taichi a serious gaze “We need to go back and find the others… I’ve got a bad feeling that… Nothing had actually changed but just blocked from everyone’s minds.”

“W-what do you mean??” Meiko gasped “You mean Ordinemon is still around…? Meichan and Tailmon are still fused!?”

“... I dunno, but… Maybe. That was their plan all of the time. Grab Meicoomon and Tailmon. They needed to put us all in danger for the sake of bringing a terrible digimon to life!”

“So that’s what you and the other three had discovered…” Taichi mused.

“That was why I wanted to keep Hikari and you out of this…!”

“... We will stop them. No matter what he does, we will--”

“The gate!” Meiko yelled “If Agumon and V-mon are here this means--”

“The gate is open, and we need to keep Ordinemon in the Digital World” Taichi completed.

“OK, time to get some action!” Daisuke punched the palm of his hand “V-mon, you may not know me, but you have to give us a hand! I can introduce you back to the ol’ 2-TOP perfect-combo formation later.”

“OK! But what’s your name…? Daisuke right?”

“We will save Meicoomon” he told Meiko “THIS time we will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I TaiDai'ed this time. Still trying to not drop theories of what happened to the 02 kids here...  
Also this got loooooooooong oops
> 
> Probably ending soon?? So I can work on my HomeoAgent!Daigo fic again...


	7. Together, again

“They won’t recognize us?!” the amnesiac group exclaimed when Taichi and Daisuke had arrived with Meiko and had told the  _ bad _ news.

“It was expected” Daisuke shrugged “After all, they were with y’all right? Then they got hit too.”

“But does it mean the digimon won’t cooperate with us?” Sora frowned “I do… I do have a photo of a pink bird on my phone… Is she… My partner digimon?”

“Yeah, Piyomon is super clingy and adorbs!” Miyako responded “We have birds! Birds are amazing!”

“Why didn’t I get affected…?” Meiko wasn’t understanding the current situation “Why does most of the group…”

“Please don’t say reboot” Daisuke and Taichi whispered to her in a way Ken wouldn’t hear them “Ichijouji Ken was a former enemy of us and he does not know about the reboot thing. He believes the DigiWorld cannot be rebooted.”

“O-oh…”

“Why does most of the group unable to remember about their partners and adventures?” she rephrased her question.

“We don’t know” Iori replied “Maybe it’s some spell or something…”

“That’s not important!” Taichi interrupted everyone buzzing about that “We have to go to the Digital World, we need to prevent Ordinemon from coming here again!”

“Ordine...mon?” Hikari seemed to recognize that name. 

“Big cryptid-mon you meant” Daisuke sighed “Miyako got a photo of that thing with mr. Gennai, the  _ real _ mr. Gennai I meant.”

“He knew it all along?!” Taichi was getting real tired of those reveals

“Actually, we’ve been contacted by him in the first place” Ken explained “But mrs. Himekawa and the fake one discovered it, and plotted an ambush for us.”

“Daisuke left Hikari out because they planned using her” Taichi remembered of what was told by the young goggle boy previously “Now that makes sense. Hikari does not remember of what happened and I wasn’t around…”

“They thought you had died” Meiko confessed “Hikari was feeling… soulless when it happened. Only your goggles had been found. I think everyone hoped you had survived, but we feared you had really died in combat.”

“... They would’ve used you or Takeru or us to indirectly hurt Hikari” Daisuke added “That’s why I decided to leave you and her and Takeru out of this. Not the best idea ever, but at least you hadn’t faced Ordinemon in the first place!”

“M-me…??” She was shocked “Taichi… Taichi almost died in combat and I… Released something evil named Ordinemon?”

“You see, it’s like Sonic’06 where Elise only released Iblis when Sonic is killed in front of her eyes, BUT everyone unite and save him with the Chaos Emeralds so Sonic is revived and him, Silver and Shadow fight Solaris!”

“Let me guess, you played a lot of video games while recovering from that battle” Taichi blinked.

“Nah, I watched the videos on the net. I do not own a PS3 or Xbox 360… Yet.”

“... Okay, we talk about it later just… How about we focus on going to the DigiWorld, stop Ordinemon and then get everyone’s memories back?”

“That’s a good idea, Taichi! I was about to ask for the same. No sass, really.”

The young kids and Taichi explained to the others how it worked, how to open the gate. This time they were all together, so no one would’ve been left behind and they could definitely handle the rebooted digimon just like before…  _ Or Taichi hoped for it. _

Miyako took Koushiro’s laptop, used the last coordinates it had stored in its memory, and then they all pointed the digivices to the center of a circle.

A gate has opened in the sky, just like the time the eight had done to go meet their digimon.

“B-but, if we all go… One of us will have to say here so we can come home…”

“Can’t we open another gate?” Takeru asked “Just like we did?”

“... We didn’t think of it actually” Taichi blinked “We came home because the Digital World went wild and kicked us out, sending us directly to the human world again.”

_ “I can help.” _

The mysterious voice gave chills in the young kids, Meiko and Taichi. The rest of the group didn’t know who that person was, or rather didn’t remember of him.

“Y-you!!” Daisuke hissed “How many times--”

“I’m not the doppelganger one, Daisuke” Gennai, the good one wearing light colored robes, mostly cream color with brown details, smiled at the boy.

“Oh, the real mr. Gennai!!” Miyako exclaimed “What is he doing here?”

“I came to lend a hand to you. The gate will be open as long I stay here for it. But you must be fast and stop Ordinemon before she crosses the gate and cause havoc in this world again.”

“Again…” Mimi mused “So, that happened before?”

“Yes, and you couldn’t stop it without Taichi” Meiko frowned “It was my fault…”

“No, it wasn’t anyone’s fault!” Taichi interrupted her, giving a determined gaze at Meiko “Not yours, not Daisuke’s, not Hikari’s, no one here is the one to blame!”

“It’s Yggy’s fault!” Daisuke shouted “Evil meanie Yggy!!”

“W-why did you give her a nickname?!” Ken hissed “It is not a good hour to that!”

“I can’t say Igu-- Igudora-- that name there.”

“Let’s discuss about it later” Taichi, again, had to intervene “Especially if Ordinemon is still around.”

Everyone nodded, then went direct to the Digital World by using the gate. stepping under the giant glowing circle made them all float and cross it, leading them to the digimon’s home.

But it was still unstable. There, the skies were darker with red lightning running through the clouds. glitch effect kept happening, wilder than the first time Taichi had been there.

Despise the chaotic scenario, the group’s hope to meet everyone and help to put an end on Yggdasil’s plans (even without memories) was bigger than the fear of being beaten. As for both leads -- Taichi and Daisuke -- they wanted not only recover everyone’s memories but also save Meicoomon and honor Nishijima Daigo’s sacrifice.

They wanted to win. They definitely wanted to.

After being guided by Agumon and V-mon to the rest of the group, the next scene was heartbroken -- To those with memories, Ken-Miyako-Iori, their digimon had no idea about them. It was like meeting them for the first time, having to restart everything from the beginning. Wormmon was a scaredy-cat one, Hawkmon quietly accepted Miyako, Armadimon was the chillest and friendilest of them. However, all three had this strange feeling of being connected to those children.

The amnesiac group had no idea which digimon belonged to who, and had to get help from the young kids and Taichi. Unlike the last time, Piyomon and Sora got along a bit better. The rest seemed okay-ish as well. Again, both children and their digimon had this feeling of them being fated to be partnered.

The only digimon left were Meicoomon and Tailmon, and their absence confirmed the young kids fear:  _ Ordinemon was still on the loose. _

But… how to save them? The digimon couldn’t evolve pretty well right now, and all data they had with is in Koushiro’s hands… Though Koushiro probably won’t know that well what to do, despite still having his intellect.

Taichi and Daisuke took a while to cook a plan. This time, they decided the best to be made was to use Imperialdramon…  _ If they could to. _ While Imperialdramon is not strong enough to fight Ordinemon, they needed to get some way to unfuse Tailmon and Meicoomon.

They need to… They need to undo Ordinemon as soon as possible.   
For their sake. For the sake of both worlds.

“... It is risky if we use XV-mon and Greymon together and alone” Daisuke mused “We need Imperialdramon AND Omegamon for that, the two are strong enough to at least separate the digicats from each other.”

“But we don’t know if we can evolve Agumon, Gabumon, V-mon and Wormmon into these two…” Taichi added “Not without memories… Maybe Imperialdramon might work, but on my end Yamato’s clueless and that strong bond we had is blocked.”

“True, at least I still have a connection with Ken… This means we… Need to find another way to get those back first.”

“... Are you all able to evolve your partners past perfect level?” Taichi now asked the amnesiac group “Like, to Rosemon, Vikemon, Herakle Kabuterimon, Seraphimon, Metal Garurumon and Hououmon forms?”

“Huh?” they replied.

“It’s no use,” Daisuke shook his head “They definitely do not remem-- Wait a minute, did they all evolved past Perfect level already?!”

“Yes.”

“Man, we missed it?” Daisuke blinked “I only remember of Seraphimon and Holydramon though…”

“No way!” Miyako shouted “I LOST THE DEBUT OF THE GREAT LADY MIMI’S PARTNER NEXT EVOLUTION?!”

“I heard Rosemon had appeared before” Taichi mused “But I wasn’t around when it happened…”

“We have to find something…” Iori muttered “We can’t let it get worse…”

“You said nothing had been erased but rather blocked right?” Koushiro interrupted them “If is the case, is there any data in my laptop available for me to take a look?”

“Hm, yes. But can you handle it without those memories?” Miyako asked him with a bit of concern “I can help but… I wasn’t around when a lot of things happened to you nine...”

“It might help to remember something.” 

“Then, let’s roll!!”

“... It makes me happy to hear that catchphrase once again” Taichi smiled.

“You act like we had disappeared for years” Daisuke teased him “We didn’t vanish, we were only… Okay I take it back, we all almost died.”

“... Don’t do anything reckless again.”

“H-huh?”

“Make sure you won’t do anything dangerous again…!”

He blinked, still not sure what to tell Taichi. While that small discussion between Courage-Senior-to-Courage-Junior, Miyako and Koushiro looked at the data collected by Koushiro before the second reboot wave.

“... Taichi” Daisuke voice got a bit deeper, “I didn’t do anything reckless, I had taken a tough decision.”

“That wasn’t--”

“I had no other choice: Risk them attack us in front of Hikari to induce her despair to release Ordinemon… Or go all alone, gambling with my own life to protect everyone.”

“That’s STILL not--”

“... If were you in my place, you’ve chosen to sacrifice yourself for everyone.”

“Th-there’s always another way! You always found a 3rd option! Why are you… Risking your own life like that?! Didn’t you tell Ichijouji to NOT risk his life before!?”

“Heh” he smiled “Do what I say, not what I do.”

“D-Daisuke--”

“I’ve learned with this experience. Now we need to get into business” he looked at Miyako and Koushiro on the laptop “Have you two discovered something already?”

“Hm… We discovered some data on Meicoomon’s analysis...” Koushiro responded.

“... But it is locked by a password” Miyako completed.

“Nice… not” Daisuke growled “Now what are we going to do!?”

“Wait a minute!” Taichi interrupted them “Locked data that might be crucial for our success…!”

“I assume it is” Koushiro agreed “But we have no time to try infinite combinations or try to hack it.”

“... Mochizuki might know the answer” an idea came in Taichi’s mind, and he looked for Meiko in the group.

“H-huh, me!?” she gasped when he said that. She was definitely with Sora and Hikari, a bit away from the group “I… Do you think I can open it…?”

“You’re our only hope, Meicoomon’s too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took time to finish this one.  
At this point all the brainstorms i've getting with this story there's no point avoiding dropping theories.
> 
> So here it is: What Daisuke wanted to do was to avoid Hikari being used for evil, and his only option was to avoid telling the others also try to stop the baddies with Imperialdramon + Ankylomon & Aquilamon only.


	8. Forgiven

“Wait a minute!” Taichi interrupted them “Locked data that might be crucial for our success…!”

“I assume it is” Koushiro agreed “But we have no time to try infinite combinations or try to hack it.”

“... Mochizuki might know the answer” an idea came in Taichi’s mind, and he looked for Meiko in the group.

“H-huh, me!?” she gasped when he said that. She was definitely with Sora and Hikari, a bit away from the group “I… Do you think I can open it…?”

“You’re our only hope, Meicoomon’s too.”

Meiko widened her eyes after hearing it. She didn’t expect to be that hope of everyone, especially when she was believing she actually is a burden to them all and that had been the reason she had been avoiding Taichi since the second reboot wave.

Meiko felt she did not belong there, or that she only brought bad omens to those twelve children and their digimon. After all, Meicoomon had been the target since the beginning.

“Y-you can’t simply give all the responsibility to her!” Mimi complained “She’s not okay! She’s panicked as everyone else is!”

“I’m not, she’s Meicoomon’s partner” Taichi replied calmly and seriously “She’s the only person who might discover the archive’s password.”

“You two are right” Sora mediated between Taichi and Mimi “Mochizuki is Meicoomon’s partner by as you told us, but I think we need to remember she’s scared as well. Isn’t there another option in the meantime? At least… until she gets a little calm?”

“The thing is, we have no more time left” Daisuke replied with all the politeness he could use “I’m sorry but we’re literally risking our and everyone’s lives here.”

“That fake Gennai might be around as well” Ken mused “We need to… take decisions right now. A little faster if possible.”

“I… understand” Meiko nodded “Let’s do it…”

“I think Imperialdramon can hold Ordinemon for a while” Daisuke was thinking aloud “Ken, do you think we can do the jogress evolution in those conditions…?”

“N-not sure… Our bonds with our digimon partners seem weaker due to the blocked memories…”

“We would’ve needed them be a little more deeper right?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“I already said you to not do anything reckless and--” Taichi got interrupted by a loud sound coming from the horizon.

“... Here they come!” Iori told the others about the swarm of evil digimon rushing towards the group “Brace yourselves…!”

“OK, Taichi…” Daisuke stared at him with a determined glare “This is the time we need to stop arguing about what I did or didn’t do! V-mon, are you ready?”

“I am!”

“Daisuke, you won’t fight alone again will you!?” Taichi grabbed him by his shoulders “That’s crazy!! You barely--”

“We will give Mochizuki, Koushiro and Miyako more time” he replied “I won’t die…!”

“You’re not thinking straight!! That’s dangerous!”

“If we don’t fight, everything’s going to be destroyed… We need to take an action!”

Taichi had still afraid. Afraid of losing more people because of him being unable to protect them. He couldn’t accept Daisuke self-sacrificing again and not coming back. 

But Daisuke was right: They have to do something or else…

“I will go with you” Taichi had decided “In case you need help, and to make sure you will stay alive.”

Daisuke chuckled, “Man, you’re so overprotective huh? Don’t worry we only need is to keep those evil digimon away from the group!”

“... Don’t die, you two” Hikari was worried with them, but inside she knew they would be able to handle it by themselves, “Please, I don’t want to lose... any of you.”

“We’ve keeping those enemies out of here” Daisuke explained the plan “Iori, you stay and help. Ken, we can at least use Stingmon’s speed to deal with multiple targets. Greymon’s big and tough, can handle some buff 'mons. XV-mon is quite balanced so can aid with long and short ranged enemies.”

“He’s… really talking like a leader” Takeru commented, impressed “Is he… our group leader?” then asked Miyako and Iori.

“Well, let’s say both Taichi and Daisuke are the lead” Miyako said “But Daisuke only shows his leadership skills on certain situations, like now. While Taichi’s pretty the first-in-command, tough not sure why he’s hesitant now…”

“He has… some plan in mind right?” Joe asked.

“Definitely he got one” she smiled “If there’s one thing Daisuke is great at, is solving his own mess!”

“And then we will need the rest to help as well” Taichi added “Ikkakumon, Kabuterimon and Togemon can stay here alongside Ankylomon and protect the group. Garurumon and Birdramon use their attack alongside Greymon. Angemon gives support to Stingmon and XV-mon.”

“That’s what I thought!” Daisuke smirked, pretty confident of that strategy “Just as I expected from the big boss of the Chosen Children.”

“You’re also a leader” Taichi chuckled “Don’t forget that.”

“All that tension between them had vanished that fast…” Meiko blinked.

“... I need these, Yamato” Taichi took the goggles from the other, and wore them. Yamato complained in silence because that was all of a sudden “If there’s a distortion we might prevent Ordinemon from passing through it.”

“Right… Aw man, those goggles seem so cool!!” Daisuke was now… fanboying over the new goggles!? “W-wait, can you use them to see something!? Like in the movies?!”

“Uh… Yes? Koushiro made them for this one purpose.”

“KOUSHIRO!” the young leader glanced at the other, eyes fueled with determination “PLEASE UPDATE THESE FOR ME!!” and he pointed at the goggles on his hair.

“W-wait what do you mean with UPDATE them!?” Taichi exclaimed.

“Y’know I need something like those new ones so I can help more!!” ah yes, the very hyped Daisuke mode “Please, allow Koushiro modify your old goggles so I can be more helpful!”

“B-But there’s no time for that!!”

“Oh… R-right, I forgot it!” He nodded “Are you guys ready…?”

Everyone nodded.

The digimon group evolved to their adult level forms and followed the strategy. While some went directly to fight, the ones protecting the smaller group stood on four directions.

Meiko stared at the computer screen and tried her best to think what could’ve been the answer to open the locked archive. It was hard, knowing none of the ideas she came up would’ve worked.

Like, trying her name. Or Meicoomon’s name. Or something she and Meicoomon liked together.

As she looked in front of her, over the laptop’s screen, she could see the rest of the group fighting a horde of digimon, all of those being past enemies of the Chosen Children. Despite those being sometimes a superior level than the group, the combinations Taichi and Daisuke had came up with worked against them. 

Garurumon, Birdramon, Kabuterimon and Greymon’s long ranged attacks caused some headache of the evil army created from Ordinemon’s wings.

“I need to… save them…” Meiko’s anxiety hit her again, her hands shaking due to the tension. Her biggest desire right now was to break that fusion and let Meicoomon plus Tailmon be free from that terrible fate.

_ I need to find the answer a little more faster, though… _   
_ But… Wh-what could it be the right answer…?? _

“That’s it, XV-mon!” Daisuke punched the air as he celebrated the digimon’s victories over the opponents, but things weren’t okay for him…

“Daisuke, don’t let your guard down!” Taichi yelled, “We need to stay focused on Ordinemon!”

_ “You foolish kids think a weak group like this can prevent your demise?” _

The Dark Gennai appeared in front of the group, the digimon tried an assault but the feathers of Ordinemon’s wings released against them, catching one by one.

“I knew it…” Daisuke muttered with disgust “We cannot beat those without Omegamon and Imperialdramon combo power…!”

“YOU!!” Ken shouted “YOU STOLE MY FACE! MADE MY FRIENDS AND I SUFFER! I WILL END YOU NOW! STINGMON!”

Ken’s anger somehow helped to power up the insectoid digimon, and he broke from his imprisonment. Tried to attack the enemy, mostly going by Ken’s orders.

“Don’t do that Ichijouji!” Taichi snapped “He’s here trying to distract us!”

“Ken that’s a dumb move, retreat!!” Daisuke felt utterly concerned right now.

“Oh? Is it… Seeing some old face of yours that drives you insane?” Dark Gennai smirked and switched his form “You see… Your past in me? The most cruel emperor of darkness, the tyrant of the Digital World?”

Ken had completely froze by that appearance.

“S-STOP IT!!” Daisuke yelled “KEN, DON’T LET YOUR PAST HAUNT YOU! YOU’RE NOT THE KAISER ANYMORE! YOU’RE PART OF US, YOU’RE OUR FRIEND!!”

“You can’t change the past” Dark Gennai continued to poison Ken’s mind “But you wanted the reboot to be real, to set you free from those. To erase the past, erase who you were to those digimon and people…!”

“Re… Reboot…?”

“Oh? Didn’t they tell you?”

“It’s impossible to reboot the Digital World!” Ken gritted his teeth “Even if it were possible, those memories wouldn’t have been erased from me or everyone!!”

“K-Ken…!” Daisuke ran towards the boy, grabbed him by the shoulders “Listen!! You might not be able to erase what you’ve done, but you’ve learned with it! People can commit mistakes, terrible mistakes! But what makes them good or not, is how much they want to redeem themselves! You’re our friend, we all forgave you!!”

At this point, Daisuke’s strong words caused such impact on the rest of the digimon, who broke free as well and kept fighting.

“Taichi forgave you! Sora, Yamato, Mimi, Koushiro, Joe, Takeru, Miyako, Iori, Hikari… We all had accepted you as our friend. You’re… You’re my best friend now!”

“D-Daisuke…?!”

“So please, don’t let that meanie fool you!!”

The D-3 digivices of them released a light over XV-mon and Stingmon, jogressing them as Paildramon.

“He’s right” Taichi nodded “Ichijouji’s part of this group, and you won’t damage anyone anymore!”

Greymon and Paildramon combined their attacks together at Dark Gennai. The man couldn’t do anything but flee, leaving the horde of evil-like digimon came after the Chosen Children.

“No matter what, we’re all friends” Taichi stood in front Ken, by Daisuke’s side “And we won’t definitely let any of you get hurt again.”

“T-Taichi…!” Ken was astonished by those words.

“We have to keep going” Yamato interrupted them “Us with or without memories do not make any difference! We’re going to fight and save everyone this time.”

“We failed before, but now we’re together” Sora agreed “Let’s do our best.”

“I… I didn’t want to recover everyone’s memories first…” Ken confessed “B-because despite of everyone accepting me, I’m still… Ashamed of those.”

“We forgave you, now it’s your time to forgive yourself” Taichi gave Ken a pat on the head and smiled at the boy. That smiled relieved a bit of Ken's pain, making him smile back.

“There’s more coming” Takeru announced “Can’t we take the source of them down??”

“If we could…” Daisuke clenched his fist “If we could get Imperialdramon right now, to at least keep her busy… H-how about the group!?”

“I’m sure Mochizuki is able to solve it” Taichi gave the group a serious glare “Believe in Mochizuki, guys. Keep fighting and giving her more time…!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meimei, Tai-Dai & Dai-Ken angst, yay.
> 
> Also if in the Movie 6 Dark Gennai tried to poison Hikari...  
Then, I had to make him do it with Ken instead.


	9. The rescue

_ “H-hurry up…!” _ Meiko told herself inside her mind _ “You need to help them!!” _

“Miyako,” Iori frowned “Hawkmon didn’t evolve to fight…?”

“I… I’m not sure if we can do it” she answered “He has his memories blocked, I’m afraid of losing him in battle, so I did not evolve him…!”

“I… I understand” the youngest kid of the group looked at Ankylomon.

“You’re scared too, but are doing your best. I admire your strength…!”

“I… I’m trying to protect everyone!” he babbled, being a bit flustered “You’re doing your best too, to make everyone get those memories back…”

“... We will get those back. And we will fight.”

“I… I’m not sure how to help…!” Meiko covered the face with her hands “I’m nervous, I want to be useful but I feel it’s all my fault to have everyone hurt or with no memories!”

“It’s okay, Mochizuki” Hikari said with a soft voice “We do not blame you, don’t overdo it…!”

“Hikari’s right” Miyako grabbed Meiko’s hands “You’re a victim just like all of us. A poor girl from a distant place who had to cope with a lot of bad things. Meicoomon will be saved, we’re going to try everything possible to bring her back to her senses!”

“…!!”

“Leave it to the greatest group you’ve ever met in your life!” she gave Meiko a wink “Now, think! What would’ve been the most important stuff Meicoomon would put as password? Something very special to her. I know you can do it!!”

“Something… Special.”

Meiko closed her eyes and tried to follow the flow of her memories with Meicoomon. From the first time they had met to the last time they had been together and before meeting the Chosen Children. Those memories, some brought smiles some brought pain.

The one thing Meicoomon and her had been living, the words and feelings shared together… Each others love and caring…

“Oh…! I know!”

She opened her eyes and gave a determined glare at the screen.

Then, she typed the answer.

_ [ D a n d a n ] _

The locked file had opened. and from the giant monster in the horizon, a light hit every digimon. Not only the digimon but also the kids.

Meiko gasped, was it a bad thing?! Did she release more troubles upon her friends?!

“... Memories.”

Miyako read the archive’s name.

“Memories…?” the other girl repeated “You mean… Everyone’s memories were locked inside Meicoomon??”

“Y-yes...!?”

_ H-Hikari…!! _

“T-Tailmon…!?” Hikari widened her eyes in shock, she not only had remembered of her partner but also felt a strong connection with her. And she collapsed, being caught by Mimi’s arms.

_ \-- Tailmon…?? _

Now she was… somehow… Inside a very bright room. [A spirit of a very familiar digimon](wizardmon) guided her to Tailmon and Meicoomon, one trying to comfort the another.

_ \-- Tailmon…!! _

_ \-- Hikari… All the light lies within Meicoomon. _

_ \-- Within… Meicoomon?? _

Then the image of her partner and Meicoomon as well the bright room started to vanish. She woke up and noticed to being lying on Mimi’s lap.

“Hikari!” Mimi gasped relieved “You’re fine… Now?”

“I… I am” she said “You know my name… Wait, Mimi?”

“Seems everyone got their memories back” Koushiro commented “I assume that locked archive was Meicoomon’s memories, but also absorbed ones from every reboot that had happened before.”

“That makes sense” Iori exclaimed “I’m glad everyone’s back to normal…”

“Ordinemon has stopped!” Hawkmon commented after a long time being quiet “Maybe we can save Tailmon and Meicoomon now…”

“Ok, CHOSEN CHILDREN… LET’S ROLL!” Miyako pointed to the skies.

Hawkmon evolved to Aquilamon to join the group.

“I… I remember now” Yamato muttered, and then looked at Taichi, Daisuke and Ken.

“You three… went missing” Sora mused “Miyako and Iori too…”

“What happened to mr. Nishijima?” Takeru asked Taichi “Is he okay?”

That question hurt not only Taichi but also Daisuke and Ken, who had learned the bad news earlier.

“He… He sacrificed himself to save the young kids and me” Taichi’s voice sounded kinda cold, but mostly because that was one stuff he wished he could’ve retconned from that story.

Sora gasped, the Takaishida brothers quietly reacted with a frown.

“We have no time for that…” Daisuke interrupted their mourn “Ordinemon is still here…!”

“She stopped moving” Ken stated “But why?”

“WE’VE GOT EVERYONE’S MEMORIES BACK!!” Miyako came dashing through them, the rest of the group coming behind her, with their partners coming after them.

“Oh, that’s it!” Taichi grinned “You’ve solved the mysterious locked archive's riddle!”

“Mochizuki’s all merits!” she she gestured with her palm at Meiko “If we’re able to stop Ordinemon, it was thanks to Meicomon’s coolest partner!”

“Oh? So Meimei is cooler than me?” Mimi smirked.

“NO! LADY MIMI IS STILL THE COOLEST PARTNER EVER!!”

“Miyako your bias is showing” Daisuke rolled his eyes.

“Y-you have bias on Taichi, so shush!!”

They all laughed.

“Tailmon… Where’s Tailmon?” However, Hikari was the only one to not laugh “Ordinemon is still here, wouldn’t the memories archive undo that fusion?!”

“You’re right…” Joe replied “This is still worrisome...”

_ Hikari!! _

“Tailmon’s voice… Tailmon is calling me…!” and she ran. Taichi, Daisuke and Takeru went after her quite panicked about that action.

Hikari felt it was… Her duty to save Tailmon. Now, all her worries had vanished. Her brother and friends are there, her memories are back… Tailmon is the only thing missing to have everything back. Everything she had lost… _ Every single piece from her heart. _

“Hikari!!” Taichi, Daisuke and Takeru yelled. With them, Greymon Paildramon and Angemon chased the young girl.

“I have to save her…!!”

Tailmon, on her side, had been fighting to escape from Ordinemon’s body. Something still made her way blocked, and wasn’t memories but strong hurricanes caused by the horrible fusion monster. She was trying, tired and weak but forcing her way.

_ Hikari…! I have to go back to Hikari…!! _

Suddenly, Jesmon appeared and sliced a part of Ordinemon, forcing Tailmon to be expelled from the creature. She was falling… Ordinemon also started to move, but weakened and showing signals of collapsing sooner.

“TAILMON!!” Hikari yelled, despair again taking control over her body and mind.

“P-Paildramon! Catch Tailmon, quick!” Daisuke ordered and the fastest monster in the small group sped up, passing by everyone and catching the white cat monster with his arms.

Hikari and the boys and the other two digimon stopped, the kids exhausted from running. Paildramon returned and put Tailmon on the floor, gently. Hikari knelt and hugged her partner softly, still scared of having lost her precious friend.

“It’s all back to normal now right--”

“No, Taichi” Takeru bit his lips “There’s something off here.”

“Huh?”

“Ordinemon…” Daisuke stared at the enemy digimon “Meicoomon is still Ordinemon.”

“Wh-what!?” the Yagami siblings glanced at the boys, fear was felt and they immediately had to retreat.

“L-Leave Meichan alone!” Meiko yelled, mild panic mixed with rage. She wanted to get Meicoomon back as well, why couldn’t she make everything go back to normal??

_ Why… Why is Meicoomon still like this!? _

“... This is because the Libra has a shard of Apocalymon on it.”

Jesmon approached from the group.

“... You’re…!”

“Jesmon. Homeostasis’ messenger, your ally” he introduced himself.

“Guys, we’ve got Tailmon back!” Daisuke announced, as they returned to the group.

“But Meicoomon is still Ordinemon” Takeru added, with a frown.

“We… We noticed it” Ken replied them “And at this point I have no idea what can be done.”

“We still need to prevent her to return to the human world, at all costs” Taichi told them “And find a way to bring Meicoomon back to normal.”

“Beating her… No. Making her waste all of her energy to revert back?” Iori mused “Like the time Skull Greymon ran out of energy…?”

“That could work” Yamato replied with a nod.

“Then… This means we need to fight her with all of our power” Daisuke was serious again “Y’all evolve your partners to Ultimate form. And Ken, we need Imperialdramon now.”

“What will Ankylomon and Aquilamon do…?” Miyako seemed concerned “We never… evolved past adult form by ourselves… Or never tried to jogress evolve our partners together.”

“I’ve got this” Taichi nodded “Ankylomon and Aquilamon help by giving some support here.”

“... In this case,” Daisuke interrupted Taichi “The best they can offer is using armor evolution as support.”

“Daisuke… BINGO!” Miyako exclaimed “Horusmon can totally try to use Udjat Gaze on Ordinemon, to stunt her for a while!”

“A coordinated attack might help to low her stamina” Joe added “It can help to revert Ordinemon back to Meicoomon form”

“We’ve got a plan, then… Let’s go!” Daisuke punched the palm of his hand, but lightly.

“I’ll give you kids some assistance” Jesmon said “It can increase your chances of saving Meicoomon.”

“... Thank you” Meiko whispered “You don’t really need to save her, but yet…!! You’re trying to…!”

“It’s because Meicoomon is your partner, therefore she’s our friend!” Taichi and Daisuke said in unison.

Meiko eyes were widened, she never had met someone kinder than those twelve.  
She was indeed thankful for meeting them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Changed "Holsmon" to "Horusmon" because seriously Toei/Bandai cannot write names or decide how they are romanized.  
*points at the infinite weird romanization of ToQ#1's given name (Right or Light?) and the infamous GORD DRIVE from Kamen Rider Drive figuarts*  
*As well at the variants for Joe, Koushiro, Taichi's names and Ken's family name in some material, but lately they're been consistent on those*
> 
> BTW, Ultimate here is in the JP term. Yes, this means the US dub "Mega"  
I use the JP terms for a lot of things...


	10. Dandan (Thanks)

It was a silly plan, hold Ordinemon til she could run out of energy. For that… They needed…

“Alright… Give her all of you have!!”

All the eight digimon partners evolved to their final and ultimate forms: War Greymon, Metal Garurumon, Hououmon, Rosemon, Herakle Kabuterimon, Vikemon, Seraphimon, Holydramon.

War Greymon and Metal Garurumon fused into Omegamon. Pailmon evolved to Imperialdramon Fighter Mode.

** _“Love Digimental Up!”_ ** ** _  
_ ** ** _“Knowledge Digimental Up!”_ **

Ankylomon reverted back to Armadimon, and him plus Hawkmon armor evolved into Digmon and Horusmon.

After that… All the Twelve Chosen Children were ready for the last fight against Ordinemon, Yggdrasil and Dark Gennai.

Meiko was still shocked by the decision of them all, wanting to help save Meicoomon. Even when she previously had decided if they had to kill her precious partner digimon, she will no hold grudges on them.

After all, Meicoomon wouldn’t have preferred to keep hurting everyone.  
Meicoomon is kind and silly, a literal infant inside that adult level digimon body.

But Meiko wanted, if possible, to get the good and innocent Meicoomon back.

“... Mochizuki”

She looked to the two in front of her.

“We’re going to save Meicoomon.”

“That’s a promise…!”

Before she could say anything, They led their focus on the battle. Koushiro kept quiet and following the analysis on Ordinemon’s data, hoping them be able to devolve the digimon back to Meicoomon.

She had helped them, but she wished she had more way to help them. She had tried to stop Raguelmon previously, but had no success. However, Raguelmon had protected her before so it meant there exist some way to reason with her partner digimon.

_ “We’re all connected to our partners.” _

Sora’s words resonated inside Meiko’s heart. It was true. She was still connected to Meicoomon, somehow. She could hear the poor cat-like digimon’s cry.

She won’t risk, this time, running after her partner. That was the main reason Taichi and Nishijima had captured in the first place. Not only that, but Nishijima had _ died _ in the process as he had decided to _ sacrifice _ himself to save Taichi and the captive children.

Was it her fault?  
No. It wasn’t.

Meicoomon’s cry keep echoing inside her mind, forcing Meiko to grab the digivice and wish upon her holy device. That piece of digital tool is the link between her and Meicoomon.

It’s the proof of their partnership.

Meiko held it tightly, as watching the Chosen Children’s -- her new and only friends -- fighting for Meicoomon’s life. And Ordinemon, sadly, being controlled and filled with negative energy. With the pain and sorrow brought by Yggdrasil.

She was aware, Dark Gennai was still around and celebrating every hit the Chosen Children’s digimons got. Every of them. She couldn’t understand why so much hate and disgust for the humans.

_ Why? Why do you hate us so much? _

She now felt something inside her mind.

_ “Why? Why do you hate us? Why do you hate me?” _

The man glanced at her, her questions were annoying.

_ “I do not need to answer those. You’re a pathetic live being you should’ve never been born.” _

Meiko did not understand that.

_ “Why is Yggdrasil doing that? Meichan is suffering!! She did not deserve it! My friends also did not too! teacher Nishijima and mrs. Himekawa did not as well!” _

Silence…

_ “Why do you hate us so much!? Is the humanity that terrible to be punished with destruction!?” _

He smirked.

_ “You… You don’t understand how we feel! There’s evil in the humans, but there’s also good! Just as the digimons! Digimon and people can be friends! Meichan… Meicoomon is not my partner digimon only, she’s my precious friend!!” _

_ Mei! _

“... Mochizuki”

She opened her eyes, and had return to the same place she had been in. She felt Mimi and Sora’s hands on her shoulders.

“Please… save her” Meiko said, and her digivice started to glow.

A light was shot from Meiko’s digivice and flew through the battlefield. It hit Omegamon, Hououmon, Rosemon, Herakle Kabuterimon Vikemon, Seraphimon and Holydramon.

“What’s t-this…!?”

The seven digimon fused with each other, giving the birth to a new form for Omegamon.  
Completely white with glowing blue details, from the cape wings has sprouted…

“Oh my!!” Daisuke was so freaking astonished, pointing at the mysterious form “That’s the coolest digimon I’ve ever seen!!”

“... Imperialdramon is still there, you know…” Ken squinted his eyes.

“Horusmon and Digmon too” Miyako and Iori weren’t happy either.

“B-BUT… THAT’S SO COOL!!” Daisuke babbled.

“I don’t understand either” Takeru frowned “Why our partners did fuse but Daisuke, Ichijouji, Miyako and Iori’s didn’t?”

“Oh c’mon we can discuss and complain about it later!” Taichi interrupted them all “We have to save Meicoomon!”

“At all costs!” Daisuke added “Imperialdramon and Omegamon are strong enough for that now…!!”

“But Imperialdramon didn’t get an upgrade--”

“Ichijouji, please” Taichi sighed.

Omegamon, Imperialdramon and Jesmon dashed in the midair attacking Ordinemon with their attacks, but avoiding cause mass damage. Their plan kept being force her run out of energy in a battle, and return to Meicoomon state.

Horusmon and Digmon also aimed their long ranged attacks on her, and since they weren’t powerful to hurt her, those came in hand as some annoying mosquito bites to make Ordinemon attack them.

Taichi and Koushiro examined the field, noticing a distortion gate becoming to open closer to the battle, one directly to the human world. Then…

“Y’all!” Daisuke shouted “Don’t let her cross that portal!!”

“If it reaches the human world, it will be over” Imperialdramon (XV-mon) told the others “Horusmon, use the Udjat Gaze on her…!”

“Right…! Hope it works…!” Horusmon nodded and flew in her direction ** _“Udjat Gaze!!”_ **

A huge digimon like Ordinemon wouldn’t keep stunt for much time, but it helped Jesmon and Imperialdramon drag Ordinemon away from the portal. Digmon kept using ** _Gold Rush_ ** to pester the giant opponent. Again, those attacks weren’t making any difference and just running energy. The armor level digimons had been enduring this til the last instance, everything they could do they were doing.

The most powerful trio kept attacking, but seemed like an endless battle. They didn’t want to use a critical special attack on her. _ She’s their friend…! _

“They keep attacking, but… She doesn’t seem exhausted!” Sora gasped.

“... End her” Meiko said with a cold voice “This is useless, she would’ve preferred to die than to keep hurting her own friends and me.”

“Meimei are you sure!?” Mimi babbled “L-Last time you…”

“I tried to stop her that time, but it ended up hurting everyone more! Taichi and teacher Nishijima got injured and captured! Hikari and her partner got corrupted… And Meichan fused with Ofanimon, creating Ordinemon...”

“We… We’re trying to save her,” Iori spoke “It will work it--”

“It won’t!” she was too nervous now “Everything happening here it’s because I let mrs. Himekawa manipulate me and Meichan, enough to cause this havoc…!”

“... She was trying to get her partner back” Taichi vaguely remembered of Nishijima’s explanation “I believe she had been fooled just like you and the others.”

“... I hate it” Daisuke clenched his fists “Using people, bonds, everything to cause misfortune and sadness… We need to save her… She’s our friend…!! Meicoomon is--”

“ENOUGH, JUST PLEASE PUT AN END ON HER!” Meiko shouted.

The silence that cry had caused…  
Taichi looked at Daisuke and then, together, they accepted Meiko’s wish.

“Omegamon!”  
“Imperialdramon!”

The digimon nodded, starting to use more powerful attacks on Ordinemon.

Horusmon and Digmon retreated, devolving back to their child forms. Miyako and Iori caught them with a hug. The rest of the group remained silent, it was like all the hopes they had had vanished. The atmosphere became heavier, and the more Hikari and Sora looked at Daisuke and Taichi’s backs… the more they felt some coldness from them.

Not like they had became heartless, but mostly that they were going against their own desire.

Yamato quietly glanced at Meiko, and inside he hated how they knew it would’ve been impossible save Meicoomon on the first instance she hadn’t reverted to Meicoomon form. He, once, had said they would’ve been forced to end their partners if they had been corrupted…

… But everyone knew it was a lie. He would never hurt Gabumon or anyone else’s partner.

Also… Takeru could feel that that was against Daisuke’s principles. Once the boy had refused to eliminate Agumon, and he had also expected to Chocomon being rescued.

To Daisuke, that was another broken promise.

_ “This time we will save Meicoomon! That’s a promise!” _

He clenched his fist again.

When Omegamon delivered the final hit… It was over.

Meiko, somehow, felt Meicoomon…  
She closed her eyes…

_ “Mei!!” _

She was there… In that same bright room Hikari had been in before. Meicoomon stood in front of her, smiling. Then, the cat-like digimon bowed her head.

_ “Dandan!” _ (Thanks)

Meiko smiled and then… _ Meicoomon started to fade. _  
She started to cry, there and when she opened her eyes.

It broke their heart. All of them.

“... I hope she can reborn” Takeru and Ken whispered to themselves, revisiting the memories of the times both had lost their partners.

“... Mochizuki” Hikari, broke the silence, her sweet and gentle voice being heard by them all “Meicoomon… Might return. She didn’t die in the human world, so that’s okay. If you wish to meet her again, hold that wish closer to your heart. It might come true.”

That sparkled something on Daisuke’s mind.

“Y-you’re right…” he said “Since we stopped Ordinemon from escaping to the human world, and the digimon here can reborn…”

Taichi wanted to say something about it, but decided to let it go. The way Nishijima had said about mrs. Himekawa trying to bring her partner back gave him the impression that maybe it's not true that old story of when a digimon dies they returns as digiegg.

Anyway, he might ask Gennai later.

A good time had passed by. Most of them, except of Iori, had been at university or a technical school. Some ways made them all get separated from each other.

Meiko had returned to Tottori, but had kept contact with the Chosen Children from Odaiba. She messaged them when she got free time, mostly to Takeru, Mimi and Taichi. She believed all of the twelve were her first friends, but now she had finally gotten some new ones around.

One day, she had received an e-mail from someone she barely had talked with before.

> _ Mochizuki, We’ve found something that might interest you!! _  
_ Leave your PC on and stay back! _  
_ We’re coming here to take you to the Digital World!! _ _  
_ _  
_ \- Daisuke

“What did he mean with… ‘leave your PC on and stay back’ …?” she blinked.

While she kept confused, she stood very away from the screen. Few seconds later, a light illuminated the room, revealing two shadows falling on the floor. By their complaints, she was sure they were…

“Daisuke, you’re smashing me!!”  
“A-aah, sorry Taichi!! All those years and using the gates is like the worst way to travel to back and forth!!”

“H-how…!? W-wait what are you two doing here!?” she gasped.

They got up from the floor, one smiling happily and other a bit embarrassed.

“We’ve got some special surprise for you!” Daisuke said with excitement “Do you still have your digivice, right? If yes, grab it and come with us!”

“Y-yes…!!” She was quite nervous, but went to her desk and took the device from it.

“Hey, won’t say anythin’ ol’ man?” Daisuke poked Taichi with his elbow, with a wink next “You came with me just to stay quiet huh?”

“S-shut up…!” he looked away, not very okay-ish with that tease “I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“What is it…?” she asked.

“Ho ho!” Daisuke eyes were shining “It’s something you will be super duper happy! I mean, it’s not like a good ramen bowl prepared by the future chef Motomiya Daisuke but…”

“You’re going to ruin it!!” Taichi covered Daisuke’s mouth “J-just get ready, Mochizuki…”

“I’m ready” she smiled, and he blushed a little more.

“Hmmm hmhmhm hm hmhmh hmm hmm~” Daisuke said something, but no one understood (It was just “I see you’re still terrible with girls hee hee~” by the way)

“I didn’t understand what you said but please don’t repeat it” Taichi said unamused.

“Can we go…?” Meiko asked.

“Y-Yes…!”

“Hmmm...” (“I see…”)

After them landing on the Digital World’s Village of the Beginning, Meiko noticed everyone was there. All of them… Was it the surprise Daisuke had mentioned?

Meeting her treasured friends again?

“Hey, that’s not the surprise” Daisuke smirked “We’re here just to appreciate the view.”

“Huh??”

“Don’t listen to him” Taichi shook his head “There’s someone waiting to see you.”

She… she won’t believe it.

No, _ she did. _

Behind of the group, there was an egg. It was reacting to her digivice. _ Could it be…!? _

Meiko approached from the digiegg. It was similar to Tailmon’s but Meicoomon colored.

“You know how it works?” Takeru spoke to her “Rub it gently”

“Like… this?”

She rubbed the egg carefully and with love. Suddenly, it popped into a small baby crib.  
And _ inside… _

“... Mei…?”

"Meichan...?"

_ Meiko had finally met her beloved friend again. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I had no courage to do a permadeath here.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!  
Now I will try to update the other stories I have to.


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